Big city indifference to strangers may be a myth, study suggests

Behavioural experts in London find socio-economic factors to be the keys to helpfulness

Conventional wisdom is that people living in big cities are less likely than smaller towns to help strangers in need, but new research suggests the likelihood of securing assistance is associated with socio-economic factors, and has little to do with the anonymity and the fast pace of urban living.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) measured whether people posted a lost letter, returned a dropped item, and stopped cars to let someone cross the road in 37 different neighbourhoods in 12 cities and 12 towns across the UK.